OBX: Part 2

This is that deck on top of the three story house that I mentioned not being my favorite.

I'm having heart palpitations just looking at this picture my husband took with his phone.   So here is the kid who not too long ago fell out a window!!!!  If it had been up to me, none of the kids would have been aloud up there, but especially not this guy.  I am so scared of heights!   My husband and I don't quite see eye to eye on all that safety stuff.  :)

The kids were never bored despite the rainy day with all the stuff to do around the house.  We played lots of games, read lots of books, and watched a couple of movies.  One night the dads took the big kids out looking for crabs.  They all wore glow sticks so they didn't lose anyone.

One day we walked down to get ice cream for the kids.  We found a used book store and some sand dunes to explore.  Other than that and the beach, we mostly stayed around the house.  That's my kind of vacation right now with a toddler that needs such close supervision and two naps a day.

Another dad photo, at least they weren't on the very top this time.

Drew was always thoroughly worn out for his naps and bedtime.  I put him to sleep in our bed and moved him when the big boys were all asleep.  Our vacation wouldn't have been nearly as sweet with him staying up super late every night.

I did not get a lot of sleep on this trip.  When the kids all got to bed, the real vacation began for us adults.  We finally got to sit back and enjoy the hot tub, play cards, listen to music, and have some wine.  Let's just say, there weren't many nights when I was in bed before 2:30am.  Funny enough, my well-rested children were wide awake at 7am every morning.  So that left me with less sleep than is normally required for nice mommy.  However, because we were not taxing ourselves too much during the day I was functioning pretty well.  And then we got home and I had a million things to do and couldn't get to bed early enough to catch up on my sleep.  Nice mom has to work really hard to show up every morning at breakfast now.  I really need some catch up sleep!

Judah and my godson:  What a handsome set of boys!

Judah trying to prove to us that he really does know how to use the remote, and, therefore, we should not keep taking it away!

Most of the kids, minus one cold three year old and a couple of sleeping toddlers

The epic water fight in which the dads win while the moms cook.

These pool shots were taken from the balcony of the third floor.

Turned on a movie the night before we left so we could pack without having stuff drug back out of our bags constantly.  Worked like a charm!

It was quite a rough week coming back from this.  We dove right into school and activities since we've been vacationing way too long already.  We are trying out a new system that needs some tweeking, but I am hopeful it will in the end lead to a more peaceful school year with kids who love to learn and read instead of kids who want to "get school over with" so they can read and play.  More on that later.